Wedding Reflections – Cathy and Jeff

Gratitude  //  25th January 2016

Cathy and Jeff were married at Hawk Valley Retreat in Galena, IL on May 16, 2015. Here are a few of their reflections from the beginning of their lives together as a married couple!

1. When reflecting on your wedding, what is it that you remember most?

Cathy:  I remember being overwhelmingly happy from the moment I saw Jeff at our first look through the end of the night!  It rained during our ceremony which made us move everything inside and I didn’t even care.  It’s a hilarious story and made for great memories.  My favorite photo of the day is when he and I were running through the rain to the tent to finish our ceremony.  Really, from the minute I saw him and got to hug him, nothing and no one else mattered.  I was just so happy to be marrying Jeff!

Jeff: Our quick discussion up front during the ceremony when I could feel the back of Cathy’s dress getting heavy with the rain, and we looked at each other and said… “Is it time… Yeah, It’s time!  And then we made the announcement to move into the tent and went running down the aisle!

2. If you could plan your wedding again, would you do anything differently?

Cathy:  I think I would have taken a little more time on my own in the morning.  It felt like such a whirlwind with people all around asking so many questions that I didn’t really get time to reflect on all the day would bring until I was at our first look location.  I wish I had a few quiet moments on my own to journal/reflect/enjoy all the day would bring.  

Jeff:  I really loved how our wedding went!  That being said, I agree with Cathy, that the day was a crazy whirlwind of people and tasks.  I would have loved to had more downtime and less things that I personally needed to accomplish.

3. What, if anything, did you do before your wedding that helped prepare you most for life after saying “I Do.”

Cathy:  Yikes-this is tough!  We should start by telling everyone reading that we have lived and worked together for several years before we were married so we had worked out a lot of kinks and butted our heads together in a lot of ways before our wedding day.  That said, marriage really is different even if you’ve lived together before.  We both have talked about how being married makes everything seem more important and more special because we know we’re in this together for the long haul.  I don’t think we really did anything formal to prepare for that, but we have worked really hard this year to make sure we make time for each other and enjoy the time we have together.  

Jeff:  Honestly, there was so much work to do before the wedding, and so much prep for our wedding season starting the weekend after the wedding, that I didn’t really have time to think about anything other than the wedding.  I feel like as much as you can prepare, most of life after I Do is just taking each day as it comes and trying to connect as much  as we possibly can through our crazy lives.

4. What is it that you LOVE most about being married that all of those engaged couples can look forward to?

Cathy:  Ummm…everything!  ;-)    Seriously though, it’s different now that I get to look at Jeff and say “that’s my husband!”  I love thinking of ways to help him when we’re crazy busy so that he doesn’t feel so overwhelmed.  I love getting to say I’m his wife and he’s my hubby.  I love that I have someone that I can support fully and who I know will support me fully.  

Jeff:  Something silly, but it is fantastic to be able to introduce my “Wife” to guests at weddings every weekend.  There is a sense of security though, knowing my wife is my partner in the business and that every decision we make is one we are making for the two of us!

5. What advice would you give to an engaged couple who is currently planning their own wedding?

Cathy:  There are quite a few things I would say, but first and foremost you have to remember that the wedding is just one day in the course of a lifetime you’ll be sharing together.  If everything isn’t perfect or people don’t notice little details you put into it, you can’t spend much time worrying about it.  The most important thing is that you and your fiancé end up married at the end of the day.  Everything else is just details.  And hire people that you really trust to do the work for your wedding!!!!  I can’t stress this enough!!!!  We hired people that we knew we could count on and it made all the difference in the world.  I didn’t have to worry because I knew I had people in place that would handle the things that mattered.  

Jeff:  Make it your own.  Don’t worry about what everyone else wants you to do.  Make sure you love everything you are planning to do for your wedding, otherwise you will just walk away with a list of things you wished you had done differently.

6. Is there anything else that you would like to share with other engaged/newly married couples?

Cathy:  Try to enjoy this planning process together.  Sometimes the guys act like they don’t care about many decisions, but it’s so nice to get his perspective on things when you can.  I’m lucky in that Jeff and I worked together to plan it all so it was our day through and through.  This is the very first big event you’re preparing for so do all you can to prepare for it together.  The more you do that the better off you’ll be down the road when life throws other things at you that you have to plan for together.  

Jeff: Exactly what Cathy said!  Plan it together.  The day is about the two of you, so there is no reason to only have the bride, or the groom plan the wedding on their own.  It is the start of a lifetime of planning things together!

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We are so excited to start this year off with a Wedding Reflections Series on our blog from our 2015 Liz and Ryan couples! We understand that wedding planning can be hard and overwhelming… but we hope you never forget that all that really matters is that you are getting MARRIED! ;) That is so exciting! When wedding planning becomes stressful, please know that you are not alone and there are a lot of people out there (including us and our 2015 couples ;) ) who are cheering you on and want your marriage to start off on the right track! Please let us know how we can help make the start of your marriage AMAZING! ;)